Photo Workshop 66

Photo Workshop 66 is a personal project and a collaboration between me and my mom, Bela Vacheva. A longtime teacher at one of the schools, 66th school in my neighborhood, Ovcha Kupel in Sofia, my mom has been working on refugee kids’ adaptation and integration for years. One day, while on the phone, we came up with the idea to offer the children photography as a form of intuitive literacy, empowering them to tell their stories on their own terms.

The first Photo Workshop 66 happened between August 16 and September 16, 2023. The participants were six children aged 13-17, fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan without their families, looking for protection in my hometown, Sofia, Bulgaria. For two years now, we receive support from the United Nations High Comission for Refugees’ representative in Bulgaria, the International Organization for Migration-Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Red Cross. In our second year, our allies are multiplying, but the production is still a labor of love. In 2024, Photoworkshop 66 was recognized as a good practice by the European Commission’s EWSI integration platform.

“As a result of only a few weeks of activities, through their photographs, the participants manage to demonstrate potential and a desire to play an active role in building their future and their adaptation in Sofia.”

— United Nations High Commission for Refugees - Bulgaria

Ahmet Aram, Abdulrahman Khamo, and Nizar Rasho rest on a bench in Vitosha National Park in Bulgaria during Photo Workshop 66 on August 19, 2023.

• 2024 •

On September 16 at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria, Photo Workshop 66 began for the second year in a row. Five young Syrians—Yusuf Younes Abdulrahman, Abdulhamid Alsalem, Mohamed Al Arab, Hani Mohamed Idi, and Zaid Hamad—received their very own professional photo cameras, donated by photographers from the US and Bulgaria, and embarked on a journey of storytelling. Meet them:

Hani Mohamed Idi

Mohamed Al Arab

Zaid Hamad

Yusuf Younes Abdulrahman

Abdulhamid Alsalem

We started with a week of intensive lessons, during which the children got to know their cameras, learned more about the power of storytelling, saw me work and learned how other photographers tell stories in the Middle East. They chose a story each to pursue and set out to cover them. After the first week, I visited them in the Safe Zone they live in and we had regular meetups looking at their work, deriving meaning, thinking about what they want to tell the world about their subjects, editing, and role playing their presentations in front of audience during their big reveal.

After a month of adventures in visual storytelling, the five photographers exhibited their work at the beautiful Swimming Pool gallery in the heart of downtown Sofia. The mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev, honored them with opening remarks, as did the United Nations High Comission for Refugees’ representative, Ms. Seda Kuzucu. Critically, when I asked the group how they feel, Mohamed Al Arab said he felt seen and like their stories mattered to the people of Sofia.

Yusuf Younes Abdulrahman introduces himself and his story during the opening of the exhibition “Here, Where I am” on October 15, 2024 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev (right) , speaks to the United Nations High Comission for Refugees’ representative in Bulgaria, Ms. Seda Kuzucu (center) during the opening of Here, Where I am.

The mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev, poses along with the five photographers, me (in red) and Swimming Pool gallery director Victoria Draganova.

Part of the audience gathered for the opening of “Here, Where I am.”

New allies in our second year include:

New Bulgarian University, who provided the class rooms to have our first week of intensive lessons in.
Swimming Pool, who hosted our exhibition, “Here, Where I am”
Multi Kulti Collective, who provided catering for a panel discussion on reporting in marginalized communities.

The exhibition is currently traveling with the UNHCR. It is expected to be shown as part of the Migration Days event organized by the Political Science department at New Bulgarian University in December 2024, and then will remain on show at 66th School in Sofia.

Press

Several Bulgarian outlets covered the workshop and exhibition this year. You can read and listen to the coverage in Bulgarian in the following media: Capital newspaper, Vij magazine, Az-buki newspaper, Radio Sofia, Hristo Botev National radio, Darik Radio.

• 2023 •

Nizar Rasho

Nizar is 13 years old and comes from Kobanî, Syria. He dreams of being a famous painter.

Abdulrahman Khamo

Abdulrahman is 15 years old and comes from Aleppo, Syria. His favorite sport is weight lifting. His dream is to become a professional photographer.

Ahmet Aram

Ahmet is 14 and was born in Ebril, Iraq. He dreams of becoming a famous Youtube influencer.

Kinan Alminkar

Kinan is 13 years old. He comes from Damascus, Syria. He dreams of being a doctor, like his mom, so he can help people.

Mohamad Husein Azizullah

Mohamad is 18 and comes from Ghazni, Afghanistan. He is a 10th grade student at 66th school in Sofia. He has decided to stay in Bulgaria indefinitely and dreams of going to college. He wants to pursue fine art and cinema.

Mohammad Shamsaldin

Mohammad is 14 years old and comes from Kobanî, Syria. He speaks Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish, English, and is currently learning Bulgarian. His dream is to be a professional soccer player.

During the workshop, the kids made their first steps towards visual storytelling. They learned how to make photographs of their surroundings and how to think about conveying emotion. We spoke about their stories as they developed, visited different parts of the city - my former home and their current - and thought together about what it meant to be part of it.

To find a common language, I collaborated with the United Nations International Organization for Migration - Bulgaria. They provided multilingual, culturally competent social workers whose guidance I heeded and cherished.

We were able to spend time in Vitosha National Park, connecting with nature and healing.

We edited their work and wrote captions together. After the workshop, we curated an exhibition called “What I See” and organized an opening at +Tova gallery in downtown Sofia.

“What I see” authentically examines the children’s perspectives on life in Sofia while the city serves as something between a waiting room and a home. The exhibit witnesses an interrupted, but self-renewing urge for a childhood filled with vulnerability and resilience, awkwardness and delightfulness, romanticism, and a banal, numbing wait. After its two weeks at +Tova, the exhibition visited New Bulgarian University and is currently hanging at 66th School, where my mother teaches and where the workshop was originally based.

The workshop participants received donated cameras I crowdfunded from photographers from across the US and Singapore. After the workshop, they got to keep their camera kits and cards. Think Tank Photo donated two large travel bags, thanks to which I was able to transport the gear from the United States to Bulgaria. Money donations from a handful of US based photojournalists and editors enabled me to buy a small bag for each kid’s camera kit and pay for their ground transportation around town.

The workshop and exhibit were supported by Juntos Co-op, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees - Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Red Cross, and the United Nations International Organization for Migration - Bulgaria. The Refuge-Ed Project participated with two anthropologists, Dr. Mina Hristova and Vanina Ninova, who engaged the kids in exercises supporting the process of their integration.

I am currently working on the second edition of Photo Workshop 66, which will take place in Sofia in the early fall of 2024. If you’d like to donate a camera or help fund the project, shoot me an email: michaela.vatcheva@gmail.com